Semaphore and track for toy railways



May 10, 1932. H. s. BECKER SEMAPHORE' AND TRACK FOR TOY RAILWAYS FiledMay 26, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 10, 1932. H. s. BECKER 1,857,933

SEMAPHORE AND TRACK FOR TOY RAILWAYS Filed May 26, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet 2T0 (IA/INSULATED RAIL 1 TO THIRD RAIL 3 gwuenkoz Harry 151360753121;

Patented May 10, 1932 UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 HARRY S; BECKER,RIVER EOREST, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN FLYER MANUFAGTUBINGCOMPANY,OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS v sEMAPHoRE' AND TRACKnon, TOY RAILWAYS App1ication filed May 26, 1926. Serial No. 111,845. iM

This invention relates to toy railways and more particularly to anautomatic signal or the like operating in Conjunction with a specialtrack section.

' To that end the invention contemplates a semaphore device including asignal lamp adapted to be continuously illuminated and anelectro-magnetically operated semaphore I arm which is caused to beactuated when the train enters the special track section. That is tosay, the signal lamp will be illuminated continuously while .the systemis in operation but the semaphore will be operated only when the trainpasses through the special track section due to the closing of thecircuit by the train from one track rail to the other, because one ofthe track rails is insulated from the metallic ties and the rails of adjacent track sections so that it is completely and electrically isolatedfrom the ground circuit of the track except 'when a train passesthereover. i Accordingly, one of the objects of the invention is toprovide a signal device and special track section therefor, the saidtrack section being adapted to be placedin alinement with other tracksections of a loop, or the like, so that when the train passes over thespecial section the electro-magnetically operated part of the signalwill be actuated. In that connection it is one of the objects oftheinvention to provide a track section having the wires connected tothe rails and also connected with the various terminal posts of thesemaphore device in sucha way that inexperienced persons may readily setup the signal for use-while at the same time the wiring is reduced to aminimum. r I c A further object of the inventionistoprovide a specialtrack section adapted for use in connection with automatic devices ingeneral, the same including "spaced wheel bearingrails and. a thirdintermediate conductor rail, the said third conductor rail as well as othe wheel bearingrails being electrically inproposed to use fibrejoint-pins for connectsulated from the metallic ties. As a part of thefeature'of completely insulating and iso I lating one of the wheelbearing rails it is ing the tubular head of the special section I withthe tubular heads of rails in adjacent track sections.

With the above and other objects in view which will more readily'appearas the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consistsin the novel construction, combination and arrangement of partshereinafter morefully described, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of a the invention is shown in theaccompanying drawings, in which Q Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic viewillustrating the application of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the special track section.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the semaphore unit.

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view taken onthe line4-4ofFig13.

Fig. 5 is a bottom phore. s

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic viewillus'trating the circuits involved.

Fig. 7 is an enlargedcdetail cross sectional view taken on the line 7-7of Fig. 6;

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughoutthe several figures of the drawings.

In carrying out the invention it is proposed plan view of the sematoprovide a special tracksection designated generally'as A and anautomatic device designated generally as B electrically wired orconnected therewith, the said device, in the present instance, being asemaphore which not only includes the usual semaphore arin but also; alight a'swill hereinafter'more fully'appear. v t

The track section A consists of a pair of wheel bearing rails 1' and2together with an intermediate electrical conductor or third rail 3 allof which are carried upon the metal For the purpose of connecting thetubular hollow heads of the rails which are of conventional toy designwith the rails of an adjacent track section (all of the wheel bearingrails of which are inmetallic contact with the ties) suitablemetallic-joint pins are employed. As shown in Fig. 2, these metallic 7joint pins designated as 8 are employed for connecting the wheel bearingrail 1 as well as the third rail 3 with corresponding rails in adjacenttrack sections, but in the case of the insulated wheel bearing rail 2 aninsulated joint pin 9'is used at each end of the rail.

It will therefore be apparent that all of the rails of the track sectionA are insulated from each other. and that one of the wheel bearingrails, namely 2, is not only insulatedfrom the'ties of its own section,but also from the rails of anadjacent track section.

1 The automatic device B preferably consists of a metallic frameincluding a tower or post 10 supported upon a housing 11 which is inturn carried by an inverted cup-like base 12. To give the semaphore amore realistic appearance a ladder 13 may also be used, the said-ladderbeing connected at its lower end with the base 12 and at its upper endwith the top of the tower 10. At the upper end of the post it isprovided with a swinging semaphore arm designated as 14 which ispivotally supported on the'bracket 15 carried by the post. The samesemaphore arm is provided with the white, green and red lenses 16, 17and 18 respectively, adapted to be brought into position before a signallamp 19 contained within anapertured housing 20.. The housing 20includes abase 21 having a socket portion 22 depending therefrom toreceive-the metallic screw plug of the lamp 19 (see Fig. 6). Themetallic socket 22 is engaged by. a' clamp 23 which consists of twomembers held together by a screw or equivalent fastening 24, one end ofsaid members constituting the clamp and the oppositeends engaging thepostas at 25 to support the entire signal housing.

'Thegsocket member 22 being in electrical. contact with the plug of thelamp, and the bracket for supporting the socket as well as the post 10being metallic it will be apparent that thescrew plug of thelamp isgrounded.

to'the post, and the post in turn isgrounded to the housing 11 and base12, thereby forming one of the lines of the circuit for the lamp 19. Thesocket 22 is provided at the bottom thereof with an insulated element 26adapted to have connected thereto a wire 27 the other end of which wireconnects with a terminal post 28 carried by but insulated from the base12. The wire 27 forms a part of'a circuit for furnishing current to thecenter plug contact of the lamp 19. The insulated terminal post 28 isconnected by the wire 1* with the uninsulated wheel bearing rail 1, andas will be observed from Fig. 6 thebase 12 is electrically connected tothe third rail 3 bythe wire-3 ,the said-wire 3* connecting with theterminal29 on the base and the said terminal being in metallic contacttherewith. As'the third rail 3 is one of the main current conductors ofthe track system, and likewise the'rail 1 is the other current carryingconductor of the entire track system it will be apparent that all whilethe rails 1 and 3 are electrically char ed, the lamp '19 willcontinously burn. :61 other words, since the lamp 19 is grounded to thesemaphore frame and the wire 3 is grounded to the frame and to the thirdrail, and an insulated connection leads from the wheel bearing rail 1 tothe center plug contact of the lamp, a complete and continously closedcircuit is formed to the lamp. i

The semaphore arm 14 is connected as at 30 with an operating rod 31arranged within the post 10 and having a .core '32 at its lower endoperating within an electro-magnet 33. This electro-magnet is includedin circuitwith the so-called grounded terminal post 29 and insulatedpost 34' by means'of the wires 35 and 36 as will be clearly apparentfrom Figs. 5 and 6. As previously indicated the terminal post-29 isconnected with the third rail 3 by the wire 3 and therefore current fromthe third rail may enter the electro-magnet 33 and thence pass to theinsulated terminal 34 carried by the base 12, and from there passthrough the wire'2 to the insulatedrail 2 of the track section, only,however, when a circuit closer bridges the wheel bearing rails 1 and 2.Ordinarily this circuit closer is in theform of wheels and the axles ofa passing car or train of cars as diagrammatically indicated at'C inFig. 1. That is. to say, when a car or train is passing over the sectionA, the wheels thereof indicated as Win Fig. 1 have a bearing contactwith the rails 1 and 2, and since the wheel bearing rail 1 is a part ofthe electrical circuit, the metallic wheels and axle will permit thecurrent to pass from the rail 1 to the rail 2 and thus complete thecircuit to the magnet 33 which will have the eifect of pulling the core32 into the magnet and consequently pull downwardly on'the semaphore armthrough the rod connection ,31. If itwere not for the'insulated rail 2the semaphore would obviously be continuously held elevated because itsmagnet would always be in circuit, but by having the rail 2 completelyinsulated from the rest of the track, current can only be shuntedthereto 5 through the metallic wheels and axles of a passing car ortrain. Therefore, the arrangement shown permits of using a continuouslyburning light 19 and'an intermittently operated semaphore or otherautomatic electromagnetically controlled device such for example as acrossing gate. That a novel arrangement is effected by the use of thespecial track section A, will be clearly apparent.

The present device provides asimple and practical accessory for toyrailway track systems.

Without further description it-is thought that the features andadvantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled inthe art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form,proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to, withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appendedclaims.

I claim i 1. A toy metallic signal tower for toy railrail and the base,an electro-magnet having signature.

HARRY S. BECKER.

way systems and operating means therefor including a track sectioncomprising metal ties, two wheel bearing rails secured to said ties, andone rail being insulated from the ties and the other in metallic contacttherewith, a third rail also insulated from the ties, an electricallyoperated semaphore signal member mounted on the tower and connectedelectrically with said insulated wheel bearing rail and insulated thirdrail, a lamp, and electrical connections respectively between saiduninsulated wheel bearing rail and said tower, said tower beingelectrically connected with said third rail.

2. A toy metallic signal tower for toy railway systems and operatingmeans therefor, including, a track section, comprising metal ties andtwo wheel bearing rails mounted on said ties and one rail beinginsulated from the ties and the other being uninsulated, a third railalso insulated from the ties, an electrically operated semaphore deviceconnected with said insulated wheel bearing and third rails and adaptedfor intermittent operation, a lamp, an electrical connection betweensaid lamp and the uninsulated wheel bearing rail, and an electricalconnection between the lamp and said metallic tower, said tower beingelectrically connected with the third rail.

3. A toy metallic signal tower for toy railway systems and operatingmeans therefor ties, two wheel bearing rails carried by said ties one ofwhich is insulated and the other of which is Vuninsulated from said tiesand a third rail carried by and insulated from said ties, a metallicbase for supporting the tower, an electrical connection between saidthird including a track section comprising metal

